Fears 850,000 young will be out of work
EXPERTS fear the coronavirus pandemic will create a “lost generation” by sparking a youth unemployment crisis.
They warn nearly 850,000 16 to 24-year-olds face being out of work by October – double the 452,000 who were jobless in October 2019.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed he had put tackling youth unemployment at the top of the Government’s recovery plan.
But the Resolution Foundation predicts that if unemployment rates for 16 to 24-year-olds increase at the same pace as Office for Budget Responsibility record projections, the UK faces a nightmare scenario.
The think-tank estimates that there are as many as 355,000 aged 18 to 24 who have been unemployed for six months. And it says prospects for those with a lower level of education – GCSES
or equivalent – are worse than those for graduates. That figure is up from just 130,000 last spring.
Last night, the Resolution Foundation’s Kathleen Henehan said: “While the scale of the problem is worrying, with overall youth unemployment looking set to peak later this year, it’s worth remembering that, long-term, some young people are likely to be much worse off than others – with those with lowerlevel qualifications especially at risk.”
And Shadow Work and Pensions minister Jonathan Reynolds said: “Young people have sacrificed so much during this crisis it cannot be right for them to bear the brunt of the jobs crisis too.
“We cannot have a return to the Tories’ failed economic model that weakened Britain’s foundations and robbed so many of opportunity.” Recent figures suggest that the youth unemployment rate was 14.2% in the three months to November 2020, an increase of 0.5% when compared with the start of 2020.
But the Resolution Foundation says the young were the most at risk during the second wave of the pandemic as the virus closed the hospitality and leisure sector.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to extend the Government’s furlough scheme and the £20 rise in Universal Credit at next month’s Budget.
Last year, the Government set up the £2billion Kickstart Scheme to create job placements for 16 to 24-year-olds on UC and at risk of long-term unemployment.
But critics say this does not go far enough and tackling youth unemployment “must be a priority”.
A Government spokesman said: “We know that young people have been among the worst-hit by the crisis, which is why we have made them the focus of our £280bn Plan For Jobs.”